“Given what you’ve seen! We forgot to tell you about what we’ve seen!” Gastropé stated. Gastropé looked around the dining room to make sure no invisible demons were near and proceeded to relate the previous day’s events to Maelen. He spoke softly and quickly, trying to avoid any demons noticing them from a distance and getting closer. Maelen raised his eyebrows several times. At first he seemed skeptical, but when Gastropé got to the part where Damien had seen them as well, he became more convinced. When they mentioned what the Rod had told Damien, Maelen got positively pale. “This will certainly require investigation.” Maelen said as Gastropé finished.
“I was beginning to think they’d never leave.” Antefalken told Damien as the last of the council filed out of Damien’s quarters. Damien had sent all of the councilors, with the exception of Lenamare, Jehenna, Exador and Randolf, who were suspect, and Zilquar who was still unaccounted for, a sudden and urgent request to join him for breakfast. Each one thought they were individually invited to some urgent private meeting. When they’d all arrived, surprised to see each other, Damien had explained why he’d invited them. Damien hadn’t wanted to hold a normal session because of the possibility of alerting the demons. When he’d explained about the demons’ presence, there had naturally been the expected uproar. After about half an hour, he’d managed to convince them to at least believe him until they had a chance to verify for themselves that the palace was infested.
That had been the easy part, what followed was three hours of typical discussion about where the demons came from and what they were doing. Damien had also felt obliged to point out what the Rod had said about archdemons. He had not been disappointed by the shock in the others’ faces.
Even without this shock, they were still at a loss as to what to do. They could try and eliminate all the demons, but this would certainly notify the master of the demons. That could bring retaliatory action. More precisely, if they didn’t get rid of the root of the problem first, they’d run the risk of a blood bath in the palace. For one thing, they’d also have to move very fast to eliminate the demons, before any could go on a rampage, even if they did take out the master first.
The problem, of course, had been the fact that no one knew who owned the demons. What was somewhat clear, was that the demons had something to do with Lenamare and Exador’s fight. Probably the book, Damien had thought, but he did not mention this to the others. One suggestion that had been popular for a while was to have a full inquisition with Lenamare and Exador and get the whole issue on the table. Then Trevin D’Vils had brought up the possibility that either Exador or Lenamare could be in league with the archdemons, or under the control of the archdemons, which Damien himself feared but had been unwilling to voice.
That had made the room quiet for a moment. If either of the two wizards was linked to all the demons, or to archdemons, forcing the issue in a council session might not be the best idea. Damien, actually, thought it might not be a bad idea, no one else seemed to agree. As was often the case on anything important, the council ended up deciding nothing. Damien wasn’t surprised, he’d come to expect it, he just hoped they could come to some agreement before it was too late. However, he had done his job, he’d notified every one of the problem. Now people could wring their hands over it and not do anything more than if they hadn’t known.
Damien just shook his head, looking at his bard, he gestured for Antefalken to follow him as he left the room to climb the stairs to his tower study. At least the councilors were gone. At the top of the stairs was an ironwood door. Damien muttered the requisite key words over the handle, then opened the door to admit himself and Antefalken to the tower room.
Damien looked to the piles of messages still waiting on his desk. Shaking his head, he went to open a window and look out upon the city. Antefalken took up his normal perch. “Do you plan to go ahead and do something without them?”
Damien snorted, “If I had any idea of what to do without them, I would. Unfortunately, I seem to be just as up in the air as everyone else. I hate being a spectator in my own home as unknown combatants wage war in my kitchen.” Both were quiet for a while as Damien gazed out the window. “Do you suppose this Tom fellow is behind it all? After all he is certainly linked to Lenamare, and Lenamare is linked to the whole problem. These could be his demons, or perhaps his demons at Lenamare’s call.”
“I really just don’t know.” Antefalken shrugged. “No one really knows who this Tom is in the Abyss. I’ve checked a couple other leads. I’ve only talked with him the one time.”
“Any word on archdemons playing big chess games?” Damien asked.
